I do it myself. Or why I need to get up 30 minutes earlier these days

Ah, 2. What an age.
The vocabulary skills are blossoming. The fine motor skills are improving. The independence is rearing is ugly lovely head. And yet the full mastery isn't quite there yet. But the knowledge to TRY is.

Practically every other sentence I hear from G these days is, "I do it myself". Okay kiddo. Go for it. And about 95% of the time he gets it. The other 5% when there is a portion of the task that he's still just too little to get done himself? Armagedon! Holy terror attack batman! The wailing, the screaming, the extra 30 minutes just to TRY until I finally hear a "You hep mama".

You can't tell a 2 year old I told you so.

They don't remember what you told them anyway.

I had to start getting up earlier in the mornings to make up for the extra time it takes to get G to walk to the car, climb up into the car, climb up into the carseat. And that doesn't even take into consideration that it's getting into coat season and he wants to put that on by himself now too.

I love it though.
Every extra minute of sleep I have to lose to see him gain and grow and learn.
Each time I make a comment about what a little person he is, he gets bigger and becomes more of a little person. He's my baby, but boy is he a little boy.

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The real perfect house

It's not that I was trying to lie to myself about the other house.
It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty nice. I could have lived there.
I just turned out to have some issues.
Big issues.
Issues I can't afford to fix.

Two days before the inspections my dad's friend stopped by to tell him they were ready to sell their house. I had known it was a possibility when I started my search, but sort of forgot about it because they didn't know when it was going to happen. And it happened then. Two days before the inspections. My dad mentioned it in passing, and I didn't give it too much thought. I had my offer in. I was getting inspections.

Saturday when my (incredibly awesome, I will totally refer her to anyone in the area needing a) realtor stopped by our campsite (yes, I'll say that again, she drove out to our campsite while camping in a local state park) to have me sign my response to the inspection findings (i.e. please fix all the big stuff) she asked what my thoughts were if he didn't want to fix things, would I up my offer? Pay for half? I told her we'd wait to see what the seller's response was first. I didn't want to increase my offer, and it had nothing to do with the suspician that the house wouldn't appraise for what I had as my current offer. And I don't have the spare money to split big repairs. My mom mentioned their friends house again, and I think I sort of half-heartedly acknowledged the remark, but was still under the assumption the seller would certainly pay for the big stuff and I'd buy this house. My mom wanted to know if I wanted to go look at their house anyway, just to see it. I said probably.

Monday when we got back from camping I had a message from my realtor. I didn't listen, I just called her back. The seller wouldn't pay for anything really. She asked what I wanted to do. I told her I needed to think about it. I got off the phone and asked my mom to call her friend and see if we could come look at her house. That afternoon.

So we did. After G's nap, we headed down. My first thought upon walking into the house and seeing just the kitchen was that it was going to be out of my price range. But I kept looking. And I asked what they wanted for it. And not only was it in my price range but it was on the low end of my price range! I finished looking through the house. The three bedrooms, real bedrooms with closets and heaters. The two full bathrooms, one off the kitchen on the first floor and one on the second floor. The very spacious dining room and living room. The bright sunny eat-in kitchen. Oh and the real honest to goodness wooden doors to every room. Throw in a usable basement, a nice yard, and negotiable appliances and I was sold. SOLD.

I called the next night to set up a time to come talk price with them and last night we sat down and talked price with the appliances and now my realtor has that price and is working backwards to create the offer. She hasn't seen it yet, but I know even my realtor is going to flip over this house.

I fell in love after talking price. I walked through the house again and really looked at all the details and the work put into it. I fell in love. THIS really is the house. THIS is the perfect house for me and G. And I didn't need to convince myself of it, I just know. I won't be in by Halloween, but I will be in before Thanksgiving and settled and ready to decorate by Christmas! I can't wait to have my own Christmas. The last time I really got to celebrate was 2004. And while last year I celebrated with G at my parents house, this year he and I will have a real Christmas house of our own.

And if there was ever an example of another door opening when one door closes this is it.

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The name plate

You know how you see on houses those cool name plates?

"The So-and-So's
Established 1995"

Well, being that I'm finally buying a house (yes, offer placed, offer accepted, more on that later I promise!) I thought it might be fun to get one of those for my new house.

Problem?

Who am I?

Am I my current last name? Because that was given to me by my soon to be ex. And I'm not entirely sure I want to be that anymore.

Am I my maiden name? Because then I won't have the same last name as G! And my sign will only reflect me, and not HIM, and the house, the HOME is most certainly his too. It's not just me.

Am I someone who has yet to be determined? Because I do plan to be part of a larger group. More kids. Loving doting partner. Maybe a kitten.

Screw it, I think I'll just get one of those signs that says something like "Live Laugh Love" and call it a day. Because really, I'm getting a house and I get to make a home and I don't care what name you put on it, it's going to be full of LOVE and Laughter and I plan to really LIVE there.

Also? House warming party at my new place some time early November! I can't wait to show it off.

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North on I-79

Tuesday I drove off for another business trip. Up to Cleveland. A portion of my drive was the same drive to would make to and from school while at PSU in Erie. Tuesday's drive was uneventful, and I'll admit the part that should have been familiar wasn't at all.

On my way home though, as I approached I-79 from the other side I thought to myself, "What would I do, if I could hop on 79 from this side, and head back into my college days?"

There were so many choices I made back then, over 1o years ago. What if I made different choices? I started dating and eventually decided to marry my soon to be ex husband there. I lost my connection with a guy friend who I had once thought I would end up with. I choose to switch from an education major to a psych major.

What if I headed back up 79 from this side and made some different choices? Would I still have my G? Would he be the same light of my life? Would be older then 2? Would he still have that determined personality and give the same wonderful hugs? Would he even exist? Would I change those decisions if I knew he wouldn't exist? That's the hardest question to answer. I could answer it either way, and depending on the day be totally confident in my answer.

I didn't head up 79, I drove right past it. Another 2 hours to my house instead 2 hours into my past. When I got home I was greeted by a great big "Mama!" and G took my hand and led me to the toy box to show me the puzzle he put together with Bubba. I shared a piece of pizza with G, and was beyond the moon excited to be back with him.

I'm not going to feel guilty that some days I wish I had taken a different path, even if it would have led me away from my G man. I can't really change my path anyway, and thinking about what if's are fleeting anyway. It was just that sign for 79 that took me back a bit more, for a bit longer than I've let myself go. Blame it on the drive, the long and boring drive.

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Last day at work, 4 days 'til baby

It's just incredible how quickly the time has flown by! I'm sure it has a lot to do with how easy it has been to be pregnant. I had very little morning sickness. I felt fabulous, no majors pains or that sort of thing. I had heartburn, and in the past few weeks my hips have felt like they're going to pop off, but that's not even THAT bad. Yes, I had gestational diabetes, so I couldn't gorge myself on krispy kremes and other treats, but that's probably why I only gained 29.5 pounds, spot on for weight gain. Of course after such a fabulous pregnancy I'm going to have to have a c-section, what with the stubbornness gene this baby got from his daddy, but even that isn't all that terrible in the grand scheme of things!

This weekend my parents come in and I'll be gathering up some last minute things we need. We're having some friends out Saturday for the last childless (for us) cook out. And I'm going to try to take as many pictures of my big old pregnant belly as I can so I can always remember it. I can't believe it's been 9 months since those first 8 tests came back positive. It was right after DragonCon, right after going home to PA for a PSU football game, it was surreal for the longest time. It still is surreal. There's a little baby in my belly and in 4 days he's coming out and I get to see what color his eyes are, how much hair he has, what his nose looks like. I'm on the verge of tears constantly just thinking about that. I'm scared and so extremely excited about it all. I have no idea what life is going to be like after Tuesday. I can't even begin to imagine! But I can't wait to find out! And for pete's sake I'm going to be a freaking mother! For the rest of my life I'm going to be a mother! Wow...just wow....

Well, I don't see me being very productive today at work. I have on my agenda to go say farewell to a lot of friends on campus who I used to work with, and I'm sure it'd be good if I finished up some queries I have laying around, but if I don't, I'm not going to stress too much. I have bigger things to worry about from now on.

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Speachless Knitter

About a year or more ago, I started teaching ladies in my office to knit. We started with a plain old basic wash cloth. We've made hats and most recently a felted bag. Most have branched off on their own projects and what used to be one day a week lunch lesson is more of a nice little knitting group. It's been fabulous to watch them learn to knit and learn to LOVE to knit. Plus it's been great to have a little built in group to knit with as a little break.

Today they surprised me. I was in tears (not too hard to do to a 8.5 month pregnant woman) and speechless (a very very difficult feat!).

Together they all worked on individual washcloths that two of the ladies then pieced together and bordered to make a BEAUTIFUL baby blanket. The extra washcloths were given to me for baby's bath times.

I can't tell you how much this really meant to me. I couldn't even tell them. It was the most amazing wonderful gift I've ever received. So extremely special.

I took a few pictures with my phone to show it off.





They don't do it justice though!

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Let's just say I'm glad I won't be watching it happen!

The birth that is!
We watched some seriously graphic births in our first birth class Monday night. Damn...all that streeeettttching!? Holy crap. Looks pretty painful! I'm just glad I won't be watching my poor patootie going through that. Feeling it is one thing...I think if I had to see it happen the pain would be 100 times worse!

In all honesty, I'm actually looking forward to the birth. I'm excited. I can't wait for the experience. I know....I'm sick.

And how was my weekend? This is how my weekend was:
I fell out of bed. No I wasn't sleeping, I was crawling into bed, leaned to far over, and sloooooooooowly slid down until I hit the bed frame with my ass-cheek and then hit the floor. The bruise is absolutely impressive! This was Friday night. Saturday morning I woke up with my first, and worst charlie horse evar! Add to that my sinuses were tingly, so I knew I'd end up sick sooner or later. Sure enough Sunday I felt like death warmed over. Today I'm finally able to walk straight, sit without pain and breath through at least one side of my nose!

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Oh SNAP!

What's that you ask?
Well, it's a rubber band of course! One that's obviously snapped!

But why in the world would you be taking it's picture you ask?
Well, it's visual proof that my belly is probably too big for the pants I'm wearing!

You see, I was using the above pictured rubber band to hold the top of my pants together, since they are pre-pregnancy pants, and I cannot actually zipper them or button them completely. So under my lovely belly band I have them held together by this wonderful marvel of technology. Until about noon time. I felt the snap, but it didn't register in my pregnant mind what it may have been. Until I moved, and realized my pants felt a wee bit looser. Lifting the belly band to investigate, this little broken bit fell out and my ego completely deflated. *sigh*

I found another rubber band to get me through the day, but I think this means these jeans should be packed away for the next year or so.

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Project updates

Well, both big projects are moving along nicely. Both are about 2/3 of the way completed and I'm feeling really good about the progress being made.

Of course the first of the big projects is the baby blanket.

If you can see, I've started on the second yellow patch, and once I finish that it's the last bit of green and we're done! It's really looking nice. It's so soft and lovely. This baby is going to have an abundance of blankets, two hand made, one by me, one by his bubba (my mom). It feels good to be making something just for him.

And the other big project is the baby!


This was just after my 30th birthday a few weeks ago. The bump is definitely growing steadily. It's hard to miss that I'm pregnant now. I'm still feeling fabulous, with just a few minor complaints, which I won't list because it's just not worth it! It's really becoming very real now, and the time is flying by. It'll be baby time so soon, and I'm grateful that the baby's room is finished, the blanket is mostly finished, and the other small projects I have going aren't too complicated. Well one is a bit...I'll mention that here in a sec. It's nice to know I won't have the stress over anything major in the last few weeks I have left.

So, the other projects....well, I'm replicating a baby wall hanging that hubby has from his birth for this baby. It's cross-stitch, which thankfully I'm familiar with. No learning curve there. I'm batting that out quickly and shouldn't spend too much time on that. I'm planning to have it finished in a few weeks so when my parents come to visit I can get my moms help framing and matting them both and hanging them in the room. The other project is birth announcements. In my infinate wisdom and finite time frame, I decided to use stamping to create the announcements. No, I've never done any stamping, nothing remotely close to what I'd like to make. So I have my book, I'm trying to get ideas, and then I'll need to buy supplies, learn what I want to do, and then pump out probably 150 announcements. No worries though! I'm sure I'll get it done in plenty of time. Especially now that I decided I can wait to learn to quilt and quilt a baby blanket. *grin*

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Squish, bump, kick....

Just a few weeks ago I actually started to feel this little guy moving around. It was very subtle at first, and I have to say completely strange. Over the past few weeks it's gotten a lot less subtle, until this weekend. I was sitting on the couch with Nate, knitting a little on my blanket (which I hadn't touched in weeks) when "pow!" (picture that in comic book style) the little booger belts me but good! A jumped, looked at Nate and then laughed a bit. I moment later "bam!", again with the belting! Of course then Nate put his hand on my stomach and he got all quiet and calm (that's right boy! Fear your father! hee hee). By the end of the weekend, we had both felt him quite obviously on the outside. He's a kicker...and he's a mover too. One night I felt him up to the left of my belly button, the next night down to the right. He's all over the place! I'm glad he's still got room to move, it won't last long!

In knitting news:
I've only added a bit more to my blanket, but I have picked it back up, so hopefully it will move along a bit more now.

Other fun stuff
I started a prenatal yoga class a few weeks ago, and last week I started a belly dancing class. Both are great! I love the prenatal yoga class because it's a bunch of pregnant ladies, and at the beginning we talk about how we're feeling. I've met a couple girls who are due around the same time as me. The belly dancing is just plain old fun!

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Boy oh Boy!

Yup!
It's a boy!
We saw the little bits on the ultrasound this morning!

I've been working on more and more baby socks. I even bought some lovely sock yarn this weekend (Sock yarn doesn't count!). I love the little socks. Now I should make a nice blue pair!

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Baby socks...the new baby bootie!

Well, thanks to Wendy's wonderful sock pattern and a few frantic phone calls to Lisa, I finished a pair of adorable baby socks! I've never been a bootie fan, they're just too froo-froo for me. But the socks, they're just mini's and they are just way too cute! And damn quick too. They're so easy and quick, I even weaved in my stray ends!

So here they are, all alone, and sitting on the feet of my pregnant teddy bear at my desk:







I have more yarn with me to start my next pair...and my next...and my next...and my next....who knows when I'll stop! *evilknitterlaugh*

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Progress on the blanket

The baby blanket is coming along very very nicely. I've started on the second color, yellow. It moves along quickly, and even though now and then I miscount and get a bit off, it's still a very easy pattern.

This is the blanket today, before my lunch time knitting:

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Baby Brain

In the past month I have, on more than one occassion, discovered after leaving the bathroom that I forgot to zip up my fly. I think I just get so excited I can get the buttons closed one more time I forget about the fly!

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This I believe....

I firmly believe that all pregnant women, whether we've met before or not, should automatically be friends. If on pregnant woman declares herself to another pregnant woman the more pregnant woman should welcome the less pregnant woman into the pregnant club. A pregnant woman should never be cold or snooty to another, or brush her off with an air of indifference. We should all be in this together. I will reread this several times as I progress through my pregnancy to insure I will always have be an open friend to all pregnant women.

(PS: I do not expect that we will all sit down to coffee together and chat for hours about maternity clothes and morning sickness. But is it too much to ask to act interested and open. You've been where I am going and it's nice to have a warm face that's just as excited as I am. You know who you are. Bitch)

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Inspired!

I'm still working on the baby blanket (yes, Lisa, lucky you I found a pattern! *thpt*)
I have about 6.5 inches finished. Only, oh, say 33 more inches to go. It's a pretty fast knit though, and so pretty and so soft.

And I'm already planning my next projects. I was inspired after reading a new blog I stumbled upon, JoFrog is Knitfrog, who happens to be a new mom (I'm very much attuned to all things baby, mommy, and preggy at the moment, as it should be) and I found her blog through Knitty bloggy baby bumpers, a group I hope to join up with shortly. Anyway, back to the inspiration. Ms. Jofrog had knitted matching socks for her and her new bub, and the bub socks were the most adorable teeeny bitty things I've seen. So much cuter than silly baby botties. And to top it off, I've been meaning to start a new pair of socks...and while yes, I still have not closed the toe on my first sock, yes just one, I plan to soon move to these itty-bitty bub-alicious baby socks. I just need to dig out that Ann Budd sock pattern thing I have to see if I can make them small enough. Oh, and incase you were wondering, my inspiration only goes as far as the mini socks. I do not plan to be as ambitious as Jofrog and knit myself a matching pair. At least not in the near future! I'm realistic folks!

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Imma knitting fiend!

Okay, lace. I gave up on it. I'm such a quitter. Maybe I'll finish it some time this month and give it away as a gift. But I was realistic. After not touching it Monday or Tuesday I knew I'd never finish it in time for Friday night. Ah well.

I did find a lovely baby blanket pattern though! And I've been knitting away at that. I just keep rubbing it on my cheek, it's so soft. I'm using some inexpensive acrylic yarn I picked up with a gift card and I think it's just perfect. I knew I'd find the perfect pattern if I just kept looking. And how's this for knitting karma: My boss had started a baby sweater long ago, and when she found out I was a knitter (and teaching a few people in the office to knit) she asked if I could take a look at the sweater as she had made a mistake and didn't know how to fix it. When she finally brough it in, she couldn't even remember what the mistake was. With the help of another office knitter the mistake was found, and I fixed it for her, found her place in the pattern and invited her to sit with our knitting group so she could finish the sweater. Of course the pattern for the sweater also had a pattern for a baby blanket. THE baby blanket! So I got a copy of it and off I went this weekend.

My husband has confiscated the laptop for work (it is his work laptop anyway) so I have to wait until he's done before I post pictures, but I will get some pics up of my projects soon.

And thank you all for the warm welcome back! It's good to be missed, and be assured I definately missed all ya'll too!

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Oh my goodness a new post!

Yes, yes, anyone STILL checking my blog is in shock!
And I'm going to try to keep up with the blog too.

I'm actually knitting, infact I have 3 projects that are mostly complete! The streakers shrug from Interwieve Knits in my lovely Manos, one sock with some knitpicks sock yarn, and my most insane attempt, a lace shawl in some mohairy unnamed yarn I got from a friend when she was moving. The shawl I started on Sunday, with the hopes of completing it by Friday for a holiday party. Hah! Yah, right. That just ain't gonna happen. So it may end up a gift for someone. But I will finish it. I started the madness, I will end it. And then I will never ever ever touch lace again. Nope. Not at all. I admire you ladies who knit lace! You amaze me! You're knitting chi is strong! Mine is weak. I celebrate when I get through just one row without extra (or not enough!) stitches. Never have I sworn more.

Oh yah, and there is this other project I'm working on. I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it, but it seems to be going well. Nice and smooth. That project you ask? Well, I plan to debut it sometime in June. And technically it's not just my project, my husband helped, and continues to help. Okay, okay, I'll tell you (if you don't alreay know and most of you probably due...hee hee freudian slip!)....it's a baby! After a few years of trying, a few months of not preventing, and a period of time we figured it would never happen, it did! And yes, this is primarily a knitting blog, but I will definately be spreading a bit of baby around, since that's just my life right now!

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Birthday Girl!

Yup. Me.



Does that look like a 29 year old to you?!



Me neither! *grin*
But yes, I am 29 years old today. Yay me! So it is perfectly acceptable for me to be vain on my birthday.

We're going out to celebrate tonight with some friends and some drinks and maybe some dancing too!


So I have done a little knitting since the last time I posted here. Actually, I'm teaching 5 people to knit in my office. What a challange. Not because they don't catch on quick, but I've never taught knitting, or been to a knitting class myself, so I'm finding it really difficult to explain how knitting happens. But they are all enthusiastic and they keep telling me what a great teacher I am, so I'll keep teaching them!

So, yah, any knitters in the Chapel Hill area who want to go out with the Birthday Girl tonight, I'll be at the West End Martini Bar around 9 tonight!

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DragonCon!

Anyone else going to DragonCon in Atlanta?
I am!
8 more days baby!


*Yes, I know I've dropped off the earth. I'm still there, but it's looking up. I start my new job Sept 6, after a weeks vacation, including DragonCon. I haven't been knitting, and bad person that I am, my final SP package still has not be packed up and sent (yah, I probably gave myself away if my SP reads my blog). I even have a thank you gift for Susan, but haven't packaged that up either (Susan, I need to get your mailing address too!) Plus I started my "13th" grade biology and chemistry classes at night, Monday thru Thursday. Wow, I won't even get into how terribly awful the guy is who "teaches" my chem class. It makes me cry. So there's my update. If you're going to be a DragonCon, email me before Thursday! I'd love to meet up!*

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